The Hattah Lakes Icon Site is located in north-west Victoria and is an extensive wetland complex of (13,000 ha) comprising more than 20 perennial and intermittent freshwater lakes (12 of which are Ramsar listed). As a Ramsar site and one of the Living Murray icon sites water managers seek to protect the Ramsar character of the site through environmental flow management and complementary management of the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. Vegetation is a key component of the lakes, however, the response of lake bed vegetation to delivery of environmental water has been limited and variable. As part of the adaptive management of the lakes, the Mallee CMA is seeking to understand the factors that are impacting aquatic vegetation. To complement annual condition monitoring we undertook emergence and exclosure experiments to assess the condition of the seedbank. Results suggest a viable seedbank in most of the lakes raising questions about the factors that are impacting vegetation community. It appears likely that multiple threats may be acting to impact vegetation.